KIRKISTOWN, Northern Ireland – Matt Round-Garrido is a man on a mission. The young man from Stourbridge in the English Midlands has spent most of the year commuting between home and Northern Ireland as part of a determined bid to join the elite group of contenders in this year’s Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout.

It has been a busy season for Matt, who has also mounted a strong campaign in the BRSCC British Formula Ford 1600 National Championship, which has already been clinched by Team Dolan teammate Niall Murray.

Matt currently lies third in the National series with just three races still to go. However, his focus next week will be on the two final rounds of the Northern Ireland Championship at Kirkistown.

Armed with one of the rare Medina JL17 chassis, Matt hit the ground running at Kirkistown’s opening rounds back in March, scoring a win and a third place. A month later he repeated the exercise, but with title rivals David McCullough and Alan Davidson (pictured above, leading Round-Garrido) also scoring victories, it was Matt’s consistency which kept him ahead. At the double header in May the Dolan team got it absolutely right and the result was a double victory for Matt and a clear lead in the title chase. More place points followed in June and July, and while the August Kirkistown saw him record his only DNF of the year after a first corner clash with McCullough, “MRG” goes into the final rounds with a 20-point lead over Alan Davidson – who has scored three wins so far in his ageing but effective ’89 Mondiale – with McCullough third a further 11 points back in his ’01 Van Diemen.

All of which sets up an interesting pair of races for next week. McCullough, a double winner in August, has found real form recently while Davidson has been strong all year, and both of them want to add the Northern Ireland title to their CVs. So does Matt of course, but the Shootout place is his real goal, and as the only member of the trio to meet the age criteria, he appears to be on course to make it. To do that, though, he will still have to beat his two older rivals to the Northern Ireland title.

An interesting scenario, and one which calls for a mixture of speed and restraint on Matt’s part.

Good training for the future…..
Photo credit: Rachel Bourne Photography